Mahathir articulates what we, too, fear

Dr M has gone too far, says Johor sultan

Mushiro: Dr Mahathir Mohamad is very convincing. Hardly a handful of Johoreans can afford to buy the apartments in Forest City and because of the exchange rate, these properties become a bargain to foreigners.

The spinoff effects from taxes and jobs do not make sense as big chunks of these lands were acquired from the state government cheaply and sold to Forest City at huge profits where the Johor state government lost the opportunity to make good profits.

Raja Chulan: I have read the full text of Dr M’s speech he made during the launch of Bersatu. Dr Mahathir has articulated his thoughts very well based on our own history and the world. He is old, very experienced and very wise. His speech enumerates the many problems Malaysians are faced with at present and gives his opinion and advice accordingly.

It is his advice to all Malaysians, both the Malays and the non-Malays. I did not see any racial or political spin or vested interest in that speech. In fact, as a fellow Malaysian, I am very grateful to Dr M, for he is the brave one among us to articulate what we too fear, ie, the long-term consequences of the many reckless and the greedy activities of some of our leaders.

I am confident that the majority of Malaysians feel the same way too as Dr M and I hope that the concerned parties will heed his good advice in order to save this beloved country of ours, Malaysia from becoming a failed state and being ‘colonised’ yet again.

RM2.6 Billion Turkey Haram: Much as I dislike Mahathir, I have to say that he has his points. Most of the properties in question are very expensive. As such how many average Malaysians can afford to buy them? No doubt about it that most of them would be sold to foreigners, and right now these are the Chinese.

The Chinese from China are mopping up choice properties in Australia and Canada. If given the chance to buy properties in Malaysia, the locals would be of no match to them, based on the fact that they could out bid the Australians and Canadians in most of the expensive properties in the market.

Finally, again Mahathir has the facts right. If they are buying properties to the tune of millions of ringgit, it would be foolhardy to expect them to stay a few months, and stay elsewhere during the rest of the period.

Tony Soprano: Wrong words lead to fuzzy thinking. Again Malaysians confuse “stay” (as reported as a quote from the sultan) with “live”. When you visit someplace temporarily, you stay. As in, “I’m staying at my friend’s house for a week.” When you are in a state of permanent residence, you live there, not stay. It’s similar to when they say “I’ll ‘send’ you to the airport” when they mean “I’ll take (or drive) you to the airport.” Jeez, get it right.

It’s as annoying as native speakers who can’t tell the difference between “lose” and “loose.” At least Malaysians mostly know that one.

Sarawakian: My respect for Dr Mahathir grows by the day. Pakatan Harapan should make Bersatu’s manifesto their own, and it will carry the rakyat with it in GE14. Those who said Dr M is only interested in removing Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and maintaining the status quo should now eat their words.

As a Chinese, I bear no offence at what Dr M said about China investments. There is nothing racial about it, he is fishing for kampung votes, something Pakatan Harapan has failed miserably to do.

He is doing it for the rakyat this time, and this includes Chinese Malaysians. This is something the Sultan of Johor should understand as well, for the reaction of his Royal Highness rankles all right-thinking Malaysians who know what is at stake.

Anonyxyz: Think seriously, irrespective of what race we belong to, it is completely uncomfortable to have such a big area and potential big population of the mainland Chinese living like that. Their big cultural differences demonstrated by ugly tourist behaviour worldwide are definitely not acceptable. How Dr Mahathir says it is not important, the reality is scarier.

Anak JB: Visit Forest City and Garden City, which are developed by the Chinese developers for you to make an informed assessment. I was there few weeks ago and it was clear that they were targeting the Chinese buyers. The marketing video was all about Singapore – proximity to Singapore, large ethnic Chinese population, good education, world-class city, etc.

There was not much promotion of Malaysia except for future High-Speed Rail (HSR) and MRT linkages to Singapore.

Dinosaur: It is a balance between a head of state and an ex-PM. Let us be wise enough to speak intellectually with facts and figures. Do not exert one’s position over the other, be civilised and rational. Both have their points but both don’t share the benefits. Hope vested interests don’t supersede these arguments. What is most important is not for the Bangsa Johor but for all Malaysians.

Gerard Lourdesamy: Land is either leasehold or freehold and it includes strata titles. Why allow foreigners to own our land? Perhaps just lease it to them for 30 or 60 years, like some other countries.

The Chinese middle class is huge. Do we want all of them here? Look at Singapore’s cost of living. This is due to the deluge of expatriates there on huge salaries. Locals can’t even afford to buy properties, except for HDB flats.

How do the ordinary people in Johor benefit from this influx of mainland Chinese? Even for projects they only use Chinese labour, suppliers and contractors from their motherland. Selling state land in Johor to rich foreigners is hardly a recipe for progress and success.

Anonymous_1371463676: It’s all about money and the privileged ones. The normal local Abu, Ah Tan and Aney can’t afford the properties, gaji tak naik tapi barang semua naik.

None of our leaders is thinking about the ordinary people.

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